How to Play Taiwan Mahjong
Taiwan mah-jong is played with thick rectangular tiles rather than cards. However, the game is considered very similar to the card game of rummy. There are 36 tiles each of bamboo, circle and numbers along with a total of 40 others consisting of dragon, wind, and flower tiles. They all have their representation designed on the tile. For example, bamboo tiles will have one or more bamboo sticks on the tile, and wind tiles will have written on the tile in Taiwanese north, east, west, and south, including in English the first letter of each word on the upper left hand corner of the tiles. The Taiwan mah-jong game is played with no more than four players at a square table.
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Instructions
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Choose who is the East. The East is the one who begins the game. This person usually sits at the east end of the table. There are several other ways to choose the East, which include the person choosing the highest number of a roll of the dice or the highest numbered tile from a shuffled stack.
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Select tiles. Reshuffle the tiles and spread them out face down in the middle of the table. Each player will select 13 tiles, and the East will choose 14 tiles since he begins the game. Each player will make a wall with the chosen tiles, leaving them face down in front of him.
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3
Draw a tile. The East will begin the game by looking at the tiles in their wall and deciding which one they want to discard. The discarded tile will be placed facing up on the right side to not get it confused with the rest of the tiles. The player on the right side of the East will look at his tiles and choose a tile from the middle. He can discard either that tile or another tile in his wall. He will place the discarded tile on his right side; the player his immediate right (or west) side will choose next.
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Choose a discarded tile instead of one in the middle. If a player sees a discarded tile he needs he can wait until it is his turn and say one of three words, "kong," "pung" or "chow." Kong means that you will have four tiles of the same suit. Pung means that you have three tiles that are the same suit. Chow means that you have three tiles that are numbered sequentially, such as "1,2,3." You cannot choose one of the discarded tiles unless it leadsto one of these three conditions.
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For a player to win he must have three suits or color tiles, four triples of either the same suit or identical tiles, and a pair of tiles that are either identical or the same suit. If this doesn't occur and all of the tiles are used, the game ends up in a draw.
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Tips & Warnings
* The winner of each game earns 20 points. * One can play up to four games of Taiwan mah-jong to determine the overall winner.
